Fortnight
by koopychuppy
Summary: The War is finally over and the First Order has tentatively surrendered. The Resistance struggles to clean up lose ends especially once they discover that the FO hadn't given up on creating star destroyers and has a half dozen secreted away. The only one with the locations is the uncrackable General Hux awaiting trial and he'll only talk to one person- Rose.
1. Chapter 1

Flame red hair seared the cool, moon pale, skin as it fell haphazardly over his furrowed brow. Eyes, ice cold blue, froze her where she stood behind the glass and her breath seemed to fog with the chill from them as she exhaled a lungful of air she hadn't realized she'd been holding into a clouding form on the clear panel dividing them. Rose rubbed her arms as if to warm herself from the frosty attention of the man in front of her.

The man sat rigid and coiled in practiced still energy as he scowled his face, twisting it in contempt. His hand were bound behind him and an officer stood on either side of him, Resistance issued blasters drawn, daring him to step out of turn. A bruise, the result of an earlier failed tactic, blossomed a violent violet over his temple. A ruby drop of blood fell from the split in his deceptively delicate looking lips. He let it fall, to trail a path down his chin leaving a crimson streak, and his face resembled the battle scarred surface of Crait, the mineral planet where he now sat, not facing her masked behind an AT-AT in battle but laid bare in front of her in defeat.

He spoke and another drop of blood trailed itself down into his sweat soaked shirt.

"The girl." He said hoarsely motioning his head toward Rose. His eyes bored into her own as if they were the only ones there, standing on opposite sides of the glass. "I'll only speak to the girl."

"I'll be damned." Poe blew a low whistling breath between his teeth behind her giving her shoulder a squeeze. "That's the first sentence we've gotten out of him in two days."

Rose shook her head and stepped back. "I don't like this." She curled her arms together and buried her chin in the fold of her scarf. "When you said you needed me I didn't think it would be for this."

Poe ran a hand through dark curls. "I don't like it anymore than you do but the only thing he'll say to us is that he wants to see the officer from Hays Minor. Paige is gone, Rose and seeing how you and Finn where on his ship, that has to be you."

He grinned half heartedly down at her. "And apparently it is. We've tried every trick in the book. Rey has even had a go at him and he won't crack. We know those Star Killers are out there." He sighed and gazed out at the man in front of them. "Please Rose you've got to help me out here."

Rose frowned deeper as she stared at the man that had taken so much from her. Her home, her family, her sister- he had stolen her away, banished her from the earth in a plume of fire, forced her to sacrifice everything and yet here he was, scowling at her just as disdainfully as he had on the Supremacy, determined to make her life just that much more unbearable than it already was knowing he was still alive. The war was over. She just wanted to forget it all.

She bit her lip and let a breath huff angrily out through her nose. Her nostrils flared in frustration. What would Paige have done? It made her stomach flip to think of it but even as she asked herself she knew. Her sister was fearless. Paige would have faced him. She nodded weakly towards the glass. "Fine I'll talk to him."

Poe shifted in his General's uniform, looking older suddenly in the dim light of the underground holding cell and grinned joylessly. "Thank you. We'll have eyes and ears on you the whole time. If anything happens he'll get knocked into tomorrow."

Rose nodded and closed her eyes.

—

It hadn't taken them long to fit her with a wire. Rose glanced nervously up at the ceiling as she entered the cell. Like every surface of the planet it glittered faintly under the dim fluorescent lights with a thin sheen of mineral deposit. She licked her lips, suddenly dry in the cool stale air and motioned to the two guards. They nodded and made to stand outside the door. She knew it made no difference whether or not they were in the room, they were still under surveillance but the little room felt stifling with so many people. She breathed a sigh of relief as the room cleared and dragged an uncomfortable looking metal chair from the corner to sit in front of the man.

She shifted. The back of the chair dug into the small of her back. She winced and cleared her throat. She cut right to the chase. "General Hux, where are the locations of the star destroyers?" She saw no point in wasting time on pleasantries.

He apparently did. "Ah the little Haysian. So they've finally given you up."

Rose frowned. How did one even interrogate an enemy officer? She puffed her shoulders up and tried to look official. "The locations General. I don't have time for this."

He smiled a thin grimace of a smile. His eyes roved over her and she flinched despite herself. He sneered. "Yes I'm sure you're quite busy."

She gritted her teeth. Should she threaten him? The anger bubbling in her stomach ached to. She bared her teeth at him and hissed, "Tell me or I'll-"

He interrupted her. His tone was mockingly victorious, "Or what little one? You'll bite me again?" He grinned callously, his eyes glinting flint under the dim lights, "I think I'd rather enjoy that."

Rose heard and felt rather than saw the slap as she smacked him across the face. His cheek was clammy cold, appropriate for a snake, but her palm burned from the impact anyway. She stood shaking in fury as the chair laid fallen haphazardly on the floor. The vibrations of both impacts reverberated off the cold mineral walls as the pale man sat back, reeling and stunned from the sudden impact.

"Burn in hell." She spat before turning on her heel and bursting out the door. The guards scrambled back into the cell with the prisoner behind her. A burst of manic laughter sounded from the mineral tomb and Rose's ears burned as it followed her relentlessly down the hall.

—

"T-that bad huh?"

Rose looked up wearingly at her scruffy companion. Despite his stutter or maybe because of it, DJ didn't mince words. Maybe that's why she'd sought him out after the fiasco in the holding cell. That or she just needed to vent, to do something and he was usually up for both. She poked at the instant bread on her tray and sighed. Her companion reached over and gave her ponytail a playful tug. She groaned and let her head fall onto the cool laminate of the mess hall table.

She looked back at her friend and sighed. "Oh it was awful Dee, absolutely awful."

The wiry older man leaned back and grinned. "Yeah I may have s-sneaked a little peeks at the footage...Burn in hell, t-that's a good one."

Rose shoved the tray away and groaned. "What were they even thinking sending me in there anyway? Did they really think he was going to magically give up everything just because I walked in the room. I'm not a negotiator DJ."

DJ took out one of his signature slicing chips and ran it in practiced tumbles over one hand as he thought it out. The worn slicer looked more trash heap than tactician but Rose had come to rely on him during some of the sketchier moments in her life for advice after he had tumbled back into it, quite literally, from a pirates hold they had raided. He'd been sheepish and grateful, she had been angry but they had soon learned to benefit the other.

"Hmm..." he hummed as his mind ruminated on the issue. "M-maybe you don't need to be."

She looked up over her sleeve. "Meaning?"

He grinned back at her. "A n-negotiations guy. M-maybe you c-could just wing it like you usually do."

She wrinkled her nose. "I do not 'just wing it' Dee!"

He shrugged. "You 'member how you got me to join t-the Resistance? Pretty sure y-you were w-winging it then."

How could she forget? It'd been just after the rescue. He'd been trying to skulk off base with a sizable amount of rations and credits. In her fury she'd offered him a wager. If he won she'd let him off, minus the credits of course, if she won—then he owed her big time and she'd put him to work. Rose had won but every so often she wondered of he had thrown the game. Not that he would ever admit to it.

"I am a good Skirmish player." She grinned back at him, smiling at the memory of his feigned shock at losing.

He nodded enthusiastically, "oh yeah one of the best." He reached over and stole a piece of instant bread with a wink. "It worked with me yeah?" He chewed the bread substitute with relish and swallowed with a wide grin.

"No m-man can resist a challenge Rosie, especially from a p-pretty gal."


	2. Chapter 2

That night Rose dreamed of Hays Minor. It all came back so clearly even after all the years. The ground rusted with ice that gleamed with flickers of silver light under the gentle guiding caress of the planet's twin moons. Paige had often pointed the glowing orbs out to her and chuckled fondly that they were sisters forever sharing the bounty of the stars. Rose had loved the folktale of the two sisters hoarding the stars for themselves and had begged to hear how they divided the galaxies between them every night for weeks.

This night however, Rose was on her own as Paige and the rest of the older children had joined their parents in the ore mines. The tribute, or the cruel ultimatum as the elders liked to call it, from the First Order was getting steeper and the village was struggling to meet their demands.

The elders whispered of the horrible things that they feared would be the consequences of failure when they thought she was out of earshot. Children whisked into the night and homes razed to the ground. Alone with the whispers echoing in her Rose bundled herself up in a hand me down coat from Paige and her father's scarf to ventured out into the night to star gaze as she did every night when her fears made their small home seem suffocating. She breathed a small breath of fog into the cool air and looked up at the sister moons and all the stars they shared.

Staring up into the infinite universe made Rose feel small which in turn made all her troubles feel small and insignificant as well. It made them seem conquerable. It made Hays Minor seem escapable. A pained cough startled her away from the universe back to the grim reality of the surface. She whirled and pulled her father's scarf closer over her face as if to ward off whatever waited for her in the shadows. "Who's there?" she called out, her voice just barely above a whisper. In response a shuffle of footsteps pattered haphazardly in the shadows behind the side of the small cabin her family shared. Rose followed the sound. She reached into the pocket of her coat and fingered the small electro-wand her grandfather had left with her as he always did on nights when she watched the home. In case the Stormtroopers came for her. She gulped nervously. Was it a trap? Had they finally come to steal her away?

She pulled out the wand and switched it on. "I'm not afraid of you," She called out into the night her child's voice only slightly betraying her. She was afraid. She wished desperately for Paige. A muffled cry fell from the shadows and with it fell the source out into the light of the cabin window. Rose jumped back and fumbled with the wand with a small cry of her own. Lying unconscious in the ice lay a heap of arms and legs. Rose looked frantically around but no other sounds but the call and echo of the tundra carried over the breeze. She looked down at the jumble of limbs. They belonged to a young boy not yet man. He was pale as a ghost, like an ice spirit from one of Paige's stories and every inch of exposed skin was stained with rich indigo bruising. He looked strikingly young, perhaps a year or two older than Paige. His limbs were lanky and wired with the first promise of manhood. Every inch of him made Rose feel cold except a for the shock of brilliant hair that flickered with what seemed to be its own otherworldly fire in the dim lights of the cabin. Rose sucked in a breath and whimpered into the cold. She wondered bewilderingly if he was dead.

Rose awoke the next morning with the same feeling of dread. The memory evaporated like coolant as the hour of the interview drew nearer but the icy chill of Hays Minor remained, the flakes of memories nagging at her to remember.

...

Rose slapped the pack of cards down on the table. General Hux chewed on the inside of his lip and eyed the stack skeptically. "Let's make a bet." She chirped as she settled herself into the far more comfortable chair she had requested for this second interview. The dream nudged her in the contours of the chair but she ignored them. Old half memories could wait. DJ had worked out the plan with her late into the evening, going through all the ways the game could play out and Rose felt ready. She wasn't a negotiator but she, as DJ had so bluntly put it, was what the General wanted and she was exactly who he was going to get.

"Give him a run for his m-money Rosie," the slicer had grinned, ruffling her hair as they parted ways, "Give h-him hell."

"You ever play Skirmish?" She asked opening the pack of cards. The General folded his hands in front of him on the table, a privilege her own general had been reluctant to grant/a. It had taken Rose some time to convince Poe to let her bring in the cards and to unshackle his hands. Luckily the arguments DJ had composed for her the night before had worked like a charm. Poe had finally conceded her small request and General Hux's hands had been freed the moment she stepped into the room. Rose had to admit she was impressed by the old slicers stutteringly silver tongue.

He scoffed. "The child's game? Of course I have."

"Great," she grinned at him snidely, "then you know the rules." General Hux's face fell a centimeter. He didn't know them. Rose smirked triumphantly. "M-make him feel like he's stupid." DJ had advised her as they worked over scenarios. "Men like him go for anything if they t-think someone is looking d-down on them."

"It's been...quite a while." He finally admitted with a reluctant swallow. Rose shuffled the deck and smiled tightly.

"Then I'll go over it for you." She cut the deck in two and set his portion face down in front of him. All according to plan."You g-gotta take control." DJ had explained as they practiced hands. "That's how you're going to win." "We each take a card off the top like this." She explained brightly, sliding a card off the top and placing it face up on the table. The General took his own card and set it down.

"The one with the higher value wins. You have a three, I have a seven. Looks like it's my win." She reached out and slipped the cards under her deck. She glanced up. The General wore a neutral expression on his face but his eyes remained fixed on the deck of cards in front of them. She drew another card off the top. He followed suit. This time the cards were even, a queen of diamonds to a queen of spades. Hux frowned in confusion.

"Oh look we tied." Rose tapped each of the cards, "looks like it's going to be a Skirmish." She took a card off the top of her deck and set it face down. She motioned for Hux to follow. Then she took another and placed it face up. He followed suit.

"Okay whoever has the higher card now wins the pile." She explained. "Let's see what we've got. Once again it was her win. She had a ten. He had a two. "You seem to have an awful lot of high cards." The General mumbled absently. Rose scooped up both piles and reshuffled. "Maybe I'm just lucky." She held out the deck for him to cut himself. "That was only practice anyway. We keep going till someone has all the cards. We'll start for real now."

He took half the deck for himself and set it on the table. He eyed her coolly. "How exactly do you plan to benefit from this exercise?"

Rose smiled thinly, "That's where the wager comes in General." She took her own cards and set it on the table. "If you win a round, you can ask for whatever you like, and if it's reasonable, I'll do it for you." She leaned in and lowered her voice, not that it mattered, since it was still recorded. "And if I win-" He interrupted her, his lids drooping. "I'll do something for you." Rose frowned and sat back down. She disliked being interrupted, even though that had been something she had planned for. She slid her half closer and feigned a yawn.

"When I win the first thing I want is to speak uninterrupted." She grumbled. The fine corner muscles of her opponent's cheeks twitched taunt with a hint of amusement at the comment before fading back to a pale mineral neutrality/a. Rose wasn't sure if the expression was mocking or if she had struck some secret sense of humor so she filed it away to mull over later.

They began the round. Rose started off badly but soon she was gaining the upper hand. With each Skirmish she stole from him, the General's face fell almost comically in dismay. When she had won and swept up all the cards back into a neat stack his shoulders slumped.

"I suppose I-" He said with a sigh."Actually," Rose cut em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"him/em off this time and reached into the deep pocket of her jumpsuit to pull out a packet of disinfectant wipes accompanied by a tube of bacta gel. "For my first request I'd like you to clean up a bit." She tossed the packet and tube across the table. General Hux caught them reflexively and gaped. The action opened the seam of his lip and a drop of blood pearled on the pulled a handkerchief out of the same pocket and reached over to wipe the drop from his still astonished face. The action felt oddly familiar and she drew back with a frown. He pulled back harshly at the touch and snapped a hand up to halt her wrist. Rose said nothing as he plucked the cloth out of her hand. He eyed her for a moment his ice eyes flashing with suspicion and a hint of something Rose could not place. She filed that away for inspection later as well. After a long moment he released her wrist and set to work patching up the damage to his face.

"I don't understand..." he muttered frowning curiously at her as he applied bacta over a particularly nasty bruise blossoming under his chin. Rose shifted in her seat at the flash of indigo on pale skin. Her mind hummed in the background trying to conjure up fragments of the dream once again from the night before. Rose coughed and cleared her throat, hoping to clear the thoughts with it. She needed to focus. For the Resistance. For the galaxy. For Paige. She couldn't let him win

"He s-sounds like a real jaw clench-er," DJ had grinned during their second practice round as Rose had been lamenting yet again about the failure of the previous day, "Guys like t-that have no c-clue what to do if someone throws them a bone." Rose hoped the slicer was right. She glanced at Hux and let her head rest on her hands as she waited. He certainly looked unsettled. "I'm going to be spending the next few days looking at you." She rolled her eyes for emphasis. "Frankly you look depressing.

General Hux tore open the packet of disinfectant wipes and ran one over his face. As the dirt and sweat fell from his features, a red twinge of flush blossomed on the salt pale ridge of his cheekbones. He caught her watching and the red deepened. He looked away with a quick grimace curling on his lips and scrubbed his face harder. Rose gloated to herself at the discovery of this newfound weakness. The General could feel self-conscious it seemed. She would definitely take full advantage of that later if the opportunity presented he was finished he piled the discarded packets together neatly and set the pile on the corner of the table. Rose split the deck and slid him his portion of the cards.

He cleared his throat and looked up at her. His eyes brimmed with gratitude. The effect softened his features and for a moment Rose felt an odd sensation pricking in the corner of her brain, as if a piece of a long forgotten memory had washed up to the shore of her consciousness. He smiled a small smile that she wondered if she had seen before, somewhere long ago. He collected his portion of the deck. "Thank you."

Rose blinked in surprise. That certainly hadn't been one of the scenarios she had anticipated. A creeping sensation climbed up her back, making her shiver. She quickly recovered and shook her head. "You won't be so thankful when I win next time." He nodded in response and they began the next round. The game progressed more slowly this time. Neither had an advantage from the reshuffle. Rose soon grew restless in the silence. "What's your name General?" She asked placing an ace down on the table. He accepted the sacrifice after drawing a four of his own.

"General Hux." He replied dryly. Rose shook her head as she won the next draw. "No not your sire name or your title. I know those. What is your given name?"

He blinked at her as they drew a Skirmish. He drew his sacrifice card and placed it face down. His hand lingered on corner as his eyes left their scrutiny of the cards to peer at her through downy lashes. "Armitage." He said quietly. He searched her face as if he was looking for some sort of recognition there at the offering. His mouth thinned in disappointment to find none. Rose suddenly felt self-conscious. She wondered nervously if she had made a mistake. If she was missing something. She had expected the General Hux from yesterday. The smug volatile grandstander. Not the quiet, genteel, almost delicate man that sat in front of her, eyeing her shyly. She feigned a smirk and laughed dryly. "Yikes." She chuckled balking at the name in a tone she hoped came across as wry. Plucky perhaps, confident like Poe or Paige. Unaffected.

He drew his play and set the card down on the table. A Jack. A decent hand."It's better than being named after a plant." He muttered.

Rose dropped the second card in surprise. It fell with a flutter as her heart hammered in her chest. A ten. A loss. "W-what did you just say?" She pulled his face into prim neutrality once again. "My mistake. I suppose a flower would be a more accurate description..." he reached to take the cards to add them to his pile. Rose slapped a hand over her cards. There it was. There was the Hux she knew. Her blood boiled. He frowned at her hand covering the cards. "That's not very sportsmanlike Ms. Tico."

She snarled. "How do you know my name?"

He let his hands fall to the table. He gathered himself up and Rose could almost imagine he was standing to attention. "I have my ways. I've known who you were ever since you and the traitor blew up my ship. How do you think I requested you here if not by name?"

Rose stood out of the chair. "Are you going to slap me again?" He asked dryly. She gave him a heavy glare. Her hand curled into a fist. She was tempted, very tempted, but clearly she wasn't the only one who had prepared for this meeting. As much as she would have liked to hit the face in front of her, the idea of swiping the smugness off of it and the secrets behind it had a greater appeal. She sat carefully back down and drew her next hand. She would sort it out once she had won and had the location of a weapon of mass destruction tucked snuggly into her pocket.

"I still have cards left. I finish what I start."

The game continued. Rose remained stubbornly silent for the rest of the round. She didn't dare risk losing the high ground again. The general stole glances at her but she promptly ignored them all. She had been losing but the second half of the pile turned in her favor. She soon won. She started off what she hoped would be a string of victories with a straightforward question. Something easy. "I want to know how many Starkillers are currently out there in total. Complete or incomplete. How many are there?"

The General pulled back. Rose watched as his face contorted with little micro expressions under the surface as he contemplated his answer. Finally he sighed, his shoulders slumping. "There are seven. Four in production, three functional." He said reluctantly.

Rose licked her lips. She hadn't expected him to answer so easily. "Seven?" She asked her voice thick with suspicion.

"Yes." His eyes dipped down following the motion before flicking back up to meet her gaze. "Seven."

Rose rolled her shoulders and tried to shake off the strange warmth that pooled under the surface of her cheeks under the icy attention. She scooped the pile of cards neatly together and shuffled them. Time for another won again and gained the prize of the location of a key component of the four destroyers still under production. Ever the tacticians, the First Order had spread their production across the galaxy. It would take several more rounds to completely dismantle the facilities but it was a promising start. Provided the information was accurate of course. The game had sprawled several hours leaving time for only one more opportunity. The last round progressed slowly, a bitter battle but eventually the General secured the round and Rose slumped back in her chair disappointed."You won…" she sighed scooping the cards back into their box and slipping them into her pocket. "What do you want? Better rations? A different cell?"

His eyelashes fluttered hesitantly at the question. Rose could almost see him humming under the surface with anticipation. In a less arrogant man, like Finn perhaps, she would have found the display of nervous energy endearing. In a man like General Hux however it was only a source of irritation. "Well?" she demanded, "Spit it out."

He kneaded the velvet of his lips between his teeth before thrusting out a hand towards her. Rose flinched at the gesture. He held is palm out to her. "May I see your hands please?" He asked softly, his voice cracking on the no doubt unfamiliarly gentle tone. Rose balked. "No."

He stiffened at the rejection. His face molded itself back into the stony mask of superiority Rose was used to seeing plastered over it. He pulled back his hand and folded his arms defensively against his chest. "If that's your idea of unreasonable then I see no point in continuing…this" he sniffed angrily waving dismissingly between them at the deck of cards.

Rose bit her lip. The game was working. She had gotten twice as much information as Poe ever had with his methods. "If I let you…you won't do anything to them will you?" She asked chewing her lip nervously. The mask fell from Hux face at the question and once again, with its abandonment, he looked younger and more vulnerable. Looking at the red haired man, Rose felt the same strange feeling bubbling up in her stomach as she had that morning just waking from the dream the night before. The struggle to remember something important as it evaporated from memory. "I won't." He said softly, holding his hand out again. The words were a solemn oath.

Rose braced herself and placed her hands palms up into his. The General leaned forward to study them causing a lock of fire red hair to brush loose over his temple. Rose winced as a shard of a quarter memory jabbed at her sharply. What was it about this man that screamed at her to remember? He traced over the lines of her palm with the pad of his thumb as if reading the lines of a holo. His hands swallowed hers in a snowdrift of lanky and surprisingly calloused fingers. His fingertips were ice cold but the pads of his palms burned furnace hot giving his hands a strange pleasantly tingling sensation where they met hers. Rose swallowed and tried not to think about it. "Someone, long ago," He mumbled more to himself, "told me once that you could learn all you needed to know about someone from their hands." He ran his thumb over the long forking line rambling over her left palm. He glanced up at her and Rose's breath caught in her throat. His eyes had softened significantly.

His thumbs trailed down over her pulse and caught over a long forgotten scar. He frowned slightly at the sensation and ran his thumb over it again. Rose pulled back at the touch but he closed long fingers over her wrist and pushed back the hem of her sleeve. There slashed a pinking X of shimmering scarring. His eyes widened at the mark and his grip tightened over her wrist. "Where did you get that?" he almost hissed. The whites of his eyes glittered dangerously down at her wrist. Rose pulled her hand free. "I don't know," she snapped back. That was the truth- or was it? Rose felt an uncomfortable afterburn of doubt bubble in her stomach. She shivered and rose out of her chair. "You're lying." He glared at her wide eyed and almost desperate. Rose stepped back towards the door. "It's the truth." She whispered frostily. General Hux froze under the ice of her tone. He rose from his chair and stood to his full height. If he meant to intimidate her with the motion then it was working. Rose felt suddenly overwhelmed. Under her scarf she could feel the vibrations of panic at the other end of her wire as the officers monitoring chattered frantically among themselves. "Rose stood her ground and did the only things she could think of. She lied.

"And if it isn't, then it's the only one you're going to get out of me tonight. If you care to know so much then you can prove it and win." The General clearly wanted something from her. Whatever it was she would bait him with it until the trial or until she remembered. The dream fluttered through her head once again making her eyes swim along the edges. She felt the promise of tears forming under them. She refused to let him see her cry. He had already shaken her. She would not let him have that final satisfaction. With a shaky breath she turned and reached for the door. There was only one option left in the arsenal she had planned the night before.

"If it all goes s-south Rosie," The slicer had shrugged. "You can't be afraid to throw in the t-towel. There's no shame in r-running if you have to." So she did. Cursing herself, him and it all under her breath she bolted.


	3. Chapter 3

_Rose flurried like a snowflake, bounding silently as a three eyed hoppin-tot over the frosted needle bed of the forest floor. Pinecones crunched under her boots and perfumed the air with a spice that mixed with the icy air to tickle her nose. Rose crinkled it to try and ward off a sneeze that was promising to burst out at any moment. She needed to be quiet. Paige was fast asleep back at the cabin. If she was caught out at night she would be scolded. The troopers hunted at night._

 _"Your face is going to stick like that Tooka." A boyish voice lilted from behind the trees. Rose whirled. Standing at the base of a stars high pine was who she had ventured out into the snow to see. She scrambled over the fallen log between them and bounded over to the tall lanky boy. "Shhh! Ghostboy!" She whispered shrilly, "You'll get me caught."_

 _The snow pale boy grinned a glacial white row of teeth down at her and reached to ruffle her curls. His own hair was mercilessly cleaved down to the scalp and Rose mourned the loss of it. The boy's smile was slight and awkward like that of one who was unaccustomed to happiness. He crooned affectionately to her, letting his voice carry over the short distance like a breeze, "You Tooka? I doubt it. You're the fastest I know." Rose smiled at the nickname. She really didn't think her curling forelocks looked that much like the perking ears of the gangling creature her grandmother had reminisced fondly of but she was pleased at the nickname all the same. It made her feel special. "I'm the only one you know." She chided lightly._

 _He chuckled softly, "Touché."_

 _They fell into step, meandering a path through the woods to nowhere in particular. Ghostboy rarely took Rose far from her home, preferring to appear and disappear like an apparition in the clearing outside the cabin. Rose was never sure where the slim boy came from and Ghostboy never would answer when she asked. "Little Tookas like you wouldn't like where ghosts live," was all the reply Rose could get._

 _Their friendship had blossomed ever since that night when Rose had found him unconscious in the snow. She had patched him up and he had disappeared into the darkness but ever since he came back to her once every few moons. Rose reveled in the secret of it. It made the cold monotonous days of labor bearable. Her nights in the forest were an exciting secret that was all her own. With Ghostboy she could almost forget the whispers. With him she could almost forget she was stuck on Hays Minor._

 _Feeling playful, Rose scooped up a handful of snow and threw it at the pale boy, hitting the square of his back under the shoulder blades. The boy doubled over in pain and crouched with a soft grunt. Rose gasped and tumbled over to him, skidding down beside him in the snow._

 _"I'm sorry!" She hissed, her face creasing with worry._

 _He looked up and gave her a half smile, "it's okay, I'm just sore."_

 _Rose reached over and pulled up the back of his shirt. He hissed, wincing as the cold air hit his back. Underneath his snowy skin bloomed with the ugly purple of fresh bruises. She frowned, "They're training you again?"_

 _The boy growled at her warningly, "Drop it Tooka…"_

 _She dropped his shirt and reached for his arm, grasping his dark spun sleeve to turn him to face her. "No, I won't, why are they doing this to you?"_

 _He took her hand from his sleeve and cradled it in his own, "I can't tell you…" He said sadly._

 _"You wouldn't understand."_

 _…_

…..

Rose spent the majority of the day making excuses. She had slept badly and had needed to ruminate over several cups of caf before she could even get started with the day and when she did, there was simply too much work to be done to waste time on fallen generals. Too many projects to oversee on the base, too many repairs, why even the new maintenance recruits needed training. She would do it after she fixed the leak in sector 12, she would do it after lunch, or after she cleaned out her quarters, the floor really had gone too long without a proper mop. Whatever it took to avoid talking to Hux and the inevitable of explaining the scar.

Rose stopped in between excuses in the dim light of a long corridor and ran a hand over the scar on her wrist. She struggled to remember how exactly she had gained the distinctive marking but the memories jumbled together in an ugly wad of sorrow that masked the details she so desperately needed in a sharp aching pain of grief. She had gotten the scar when the First Order destroyed her home. She knew that much. The scar was a reminder of the end of everything before the Resistance. Back when she had thought a home was a cabin in the snow and hadn't understood that love was something you had to save instead of something that just was.

She couldn't tell him the truth could she? That she didn't remember, couldn't remember, because doing so was too painful. She shook her head at the thought. Of course she couldn't. She needed to win this precarious game of her own design. She needed to stick to the plan that DJ had so carefully crafted for her. Besides, would a man with a fussy pretentious name like Armitage even be satisfied with such an answer? Rose somehow doubted it very much. She grimaced as she tried the name out over her tongue. It was a perfect fit for a man like General Hux. He was a high ranking leader of the First Order, the most evil organization in galactic history. He was power hungry and arrogant. She had seen it on the Supremacy. Yes, Armitage suited him well. Surely a man like him would know nothing of grief and feel no compassion for it. Rose grimaced at the idea of appearing weak in front of such a man. No, she could not use the truth. She would need a lie for Armitage Hux and a convincing one if she was going to get the interrogations back on track.

She wracked her brain for anything that would sound right. Some story that would satisfy the strange feverish gleam that had sparked in those icy eyes at the sight of the scar but all that filled her head were fragments of memory that pricked behind her eyes like shards of shattered glass. A pale hand laid prone on the snow, the warmth of a fire spiced by the equally delicious warmth of a folktale spoken in the soothing croak of an elder, the tinkling melody of Paige when she laughed. Her eyes watered and Rose gulped in a greedy breath as her throat contracted with the start of a sob. Even touching the past to hide it was too painful. She had lost too much to carry it without her eyes turned staunchly forward. To go back made the load too heavy to bear.

Rose slumped against the coarse mineral deposit caked wall of the corridor and let herself slide roughly into a ball on the floor. That was where Poe found her, tear crusted and exhausted, several hours later. Several minutes, of propaganda worthy charm and a speech on the importance of duty, later she was making her way reluctantly towards the cell, flanked by guards, and wringing a pair of cuff in her hands.

…..

Rose steeled herself as they descended and let out a slow breath as she approached the cell to rap lightly on the door. She fought back a yawn. She was so tired. Her palms slipped sweaty on the handle as she forced the heavy barrier open. The stakes felt higher now than ever. She had to do it for Poe, for the Resistance, for Paige. They were counting on her. If she couldn't think of a lie then she needed to win. Rose wasn't sure why General Hux was so curious about her but all of the answers she had come up the night before had kept her awake late into the night cycle only to fall fitfully into dreams. The dreams had left her bleary eyed the next morning. Whatever the reason, Rose was at least certain of the whispers of dread pooling in the back of her mind. It had been a long time since they had surfaced but every one of them urged her to conceal the truth. The easiest way to do that was to win. Then she wouldn't have to answer at all.

The General looked almost eager as she peeked through the door. Putting on a false bravado she tried to set the tone.

"Ready to lose again today, General?" She huffed.

The General's mouth folded in on itself as he rose to meet her. She raised a brow at the formality and stepped into the room. Perhaps he meant to intimidate her with his height once more. Rose let her eyes skim over the slim form in front of her. Height was the only advantage the man appeared to have over her. He was wiry in a delicate way and the standard issue shirt and pants hung loosely on his frame. Rose looked up and winced at how far back she had to tilt her head to meet his gaze. At his full height he was a head and a half taller. Not as massive as Kylo Ren, even Poe had trouble meeting the fallen dark lord's face, but still frustrating. Her head only met his chest. No matter what she did he could still look down on her all he held out his wrists and Rose slapped the cuffs on roughly. A small imitation of a smile flitted on his lips and Rose let a sharp chuff cut through the silence in response as she tugged them snugly around each wrist. She motioned for him to follow and the guards wordlessly fell into flank on either side as they made their way down the hall to the larger cell Rose preferred. Rose didn't break the silence. The General did.

"Are we to play Skirmish again Ms. Tico?" His tone was light and skimming, slithery, like a snake slinking in the trees to look down on her. Rose grunted and kept her eyes carefully trained forward. "That's the idea General."

He paused as they reached the door and stepped to the side to let her pass. A needless courtesy since she was the one with the access code. She hunched in front of the keypad to cover it from view and fluidly tapped the door open with a quick series of rapid pings. When she was done she wiped the pad with the back of her sleeve to erase any print residue that might have lingered on the keys. She turned to open the door and caught the General eyeing her with an almost impressed expression. Rose shrugged and forced open the heavy door.

She motioned for him to enter the room and once he had slipped inside she shut the door behind them leaving the guards to stand outside the door. She tossed the pack of cards carelessly down on the table and threw herself unceremoniously down in her chair. The General settled himself in his own and waited.

She cocked her head to the side and blinked at him, "What would you have us play if the tables were turned?" She asked trying to keep her voice casual. Inside she was a bundle of nerves. She had slept fitfully the night before with more strange dreams of Hays Minor. She was unsettled by the way this whole thing was effecting her. The more they played the more likely it was that he would win and ask questions she didn't want to answer. She knew Poe would be displeased at her for stalling and give her another long irritating pep talk if she returned empty handed but still she resisted. If the General was aware of her reluctance he didn't show it. He seemed to give her question serious thought, his eyebrows knitting in such sincere concentration that Rose almost had to smile at the painful awkwardness of it. However General Hux had gained his power in the First Order it certainly hadn't been socially. She could almost pity him-almost.

Finally he spoke. His words fell cautiously. "I would probably choose something like Corellian Blackjack." He shifted shyly in his chair, "It is a much faster paced game which would likely produce the results I was looking for more efficiently."

Rose peered at him incredulously. Was he giving her advice on his own interrogation? She frowned at him and picked up the deck of cards. She slipped them out and shuffled them quickly. The sooner they were over this ordeal the better. She could feel a headache forming behind her eyes.

Despite his advice it was a game of Skirmish they began. They played in silence the cards slapped quickly down onto the table in a steady staccato. Inbetween hands Rose could feel Hux's eyes on her. His lips parted as if he wanted to speak but the words never formed into the space between them. Rose wouldn't let them. She kept her focus on the cards. Her lips pressed further into a tight line the more she lost. She was exhausted and the game slipped through her fingers like sand. Hux's pile steadily grew and soon it was apparent that her defeat was inevitable. Frustrated and tired, Rose rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed. She knocked the rest of her cards away and let herself slump further in the chair.

"I don't want to play games with you today." She grumbled wearingly. It was unsportsmanlike she knew, and it was going entirely off script but Rose was tired of playing like she was confident and in control. She was tired of dreaming of pale boys in the snow she didn't remember and the pale man in front of her that wanted. She let her head fall forward to rest on the table and closed her eyes. She knew she looked ridiculous with her hair splayed around her face but she didn't care. The caf wasn't working and she didn't want to be there.

"The first production facility is on Dermos, in the southern hemisphere." The General said softly. His confession hung heavy over the little room. Rose lifted her chin to peer at him through her fringe and gawked.

He feigned a grimace and a sniff but his eyes wavered nervously. "I'm not particularly fond of cards," He reached up and raised a hand to massage his sinuses. Her eyes followed his hand as it passed over his face. The space under his eyes was purpling with either bruising or exhaustion. Clearly she wasn't the only one lacking sleep. His chin was beginning to show signs of stubble, "Perhaps we could reach some kind of alternative agreement?"

Rose sat up to rest her chin on her hands. She didn't understand why he was being so cooperative, she had lost but he had still supplied information. What was it that was so important that he would go to these lengths? What was it about her, the little no one from nowhere? Rose swallowed nervously, "What do you have in mind?"

He cleared his throat and folded his hands in his lap. He sat up straight and crossed his legs. As he repositioned himself the atmosphere around them narrowed and expanded all at once. The little cell now had become somewhere important and formal. Rose sucked in a breath as his eyes locked onto her own and sat up uneasily to fold her own hands on the table in front of her. Suddenly despite the stubble and the dark circles he was every inch a General.

He spoke flawlessly, the words as crisp as a senator, Rose couldn't help but stare almost mesmerized by the authority he exuded from such a slight frame.

 _Ah…_ she thought to herself, _so that's how he did it._ Unlike Poe who had become a general through a combination of comradery and necessity, General Hux had become one through sheer force of will.

"We each stand to benefit from an exchange of information. You wish to know about the First Order," He waved a hand dismissively at the mention of the fallen organization, "and I…" he paused and let his voice fall to a softer register, "…wish to know about you."

Rose mouth dried. She hadn't expected him to put it quite so plainly. She didn't understand why a man like Hux would care so much about a mechanic like her. Her confusion slipped out plainly before she could stop the words from falling gracelessly from her lips.

"Why me?"

He blinked in slight surprise at the question. His face fell. He slowly reached down and carefully pulled up the hem of his own dark spun sleeve. There etched into the alabaster skin was a familiar looking shimmering X. Rose gasped and pulled up the hem of her own sleeve to check her own scar. The two looked eerily familiar, each an ethereal shimmering mirror of the other like the sister moons of Hays Minor.

His voice fell heavy and thick with disappointment.

"You tell me," He said bitterly. He glanced down at his own scar and ran a fingertip over the raised edge before bringing his sight up to meet hers once more. He sighed and let the hem of his sleeve fall.

"Do you really not remember?"


	4. Chapter 4

Warm puffs of condensed steam rose to float like smoke in the snowy stillness. Part comes billowing out of the worn old thermos of caf she kept cradled in her hands. The other half came chuffing out the young boy next to her for her own amusement. He tells her a story from another world about beasts that breathe smoke and ash. Breathing big puffs of exhaled air to mimic the beast. He's a good story teller and it's a moment of true happiness, sitting here next to her friend. A moment she feared will someday cease to be. Ghostboy has already been visiting less by now and there's an apprehensive wistfulness in the way he looks at her when they part.

Each night he looked at her like it might be the last.

"You're going to leave aren't you?" She asked quietly surprising herself. Ghostboy stopped mid huff and blinked at her. "I leave every night at high moon Tooka."

She smiled at the nickname but shook her head, "not just tonight, you're leaving for good aren't you?" She set down the thermos and reached into her pocket to finger the little pouch she had tucked away. She'd been planning to ask him later when the twin moons were both full and it would mean more but she's afraid there won't be enough time. His next words confirmed it.

"Yes I've been reassigned." She didn't ask him any questions, she knew he wouldn't give her any details. He was leaving her and that was all that mattered. Instead she produced the pouch out of her pocket. He glanced at it and his brow crinkled in confusion.

She asked the question she'd been avoiding, "Will I ever see you again?" His blue eyes were clear, so clear she could see the doubt shimmering in the depths of them. "I don't know," he answered quietly, honestly, Ghostboy hid things but he never lied. He shifted closer until their shoulders touched, a soft smile flitted across his lips, "but I hope so." His blue eyes gazed down into her own, "I would like to."

That was enough for her. She reached into the little pouch and pulled out a small knife. She'd borrowed it from the little chest her grandmother kept all the ceremonial items she'd secreted away for her grandchildren's dowry. The little ornamental knife glittered in the moonlight.

Rose took a deep breath and ran the blade of the knife over the top side of her wrist. She pressed down hard so it would scar. Ghostboy gasped in horror and clamped a hand over the blade, ripping it away. "What are you doing? Stop!"

The cut stung in the cold air but not as much as the tears threatening to spill over onto her cheeks. She swallowed them back and sat up straight.

"Here when two people have to separate for a long time, so long that they might forget what the other looks like, they mark themselves so they can find each other." Rose blushed and looked down at the beads of blood that were already clotting on her wrist. She was still too shy to say the truth, that marking ceremonies were how people promised themselves to each other, to say how her grandfather still proudly bore the little slash on his wrist as a mark of devotion. There would be plenty of time to find the right way to share that truth and feeling bubbling in her stomach that had made her bring the little knife in the first place.

Ghostboy considered for a moment before holding out his wrist to her. "I would be honored Tooka." His voice trembled slightly with his wrist as she took it in her hand. She made a deep nick in the skin and the boy winced at the pain. When she was done she reached back into the pouch and pulled out a small packet of glittering white dust. She took a pinch and rubbed it into her own mark before reaching and applying it to his. They glittered in the moonlight. She blushed and folded the packet back into her jacket. "They call it stardust, it's supposed to make them shimmer, so you can see them when they heal." The boy nodded solemnly as he looked down at the mark. Slowly a wide grin spread across his face and Rose held her breath as it bloomed. His cheeks glowed crimson in the cold air and his eyes glittered with a stardust all their own. He was beautiful when he smiled. She barely had time to blink before the boy threw his arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Thank you." He whispered into her hair. The tears made good on their threat and tumbled over into his shirt. Rose wrapped her arms around the boy's slight frame tight as if she could hold him there in that moment. "Promise you'll come back?" She sniffed.

Ghostboy shifted to cup her face in his hands. He brushed the tears away with his thumbs. "I promise, whatever it takes, I'll find you again."

—

Her heart raced. She could feel it pounding in her ears like the roar of a just fixed engine revving her into a full blown panic. She tried to swallow, to delay the acceleration, but her mouth was dry. Water...she needed water- or more accurately she needed to get out of this room. Cool down, get away from this man who made her head run hot. Poe would be angry at her for bolting again. He didn't understand how painful memories where. How much she needed to keep them locked away. How the little bolts and rivets that held her together could expand and fail with stress. The man sitting in front of her didn't understand either, or perhaps he did. Perhaps that was why he was so eagerly unraveling her. Unscrewing all the little ways she had clamped the past shut out of the present. He had destroyed a star system, her sanity must be an easy break in comparison.

She looked down at the scar on his wrist. Her stomach twisted. Another imaginary bolt fell to the floor. A phantom ping as the figment ricocheted off the hallucination of the cold mineral. The false noise rang in her ears like the tinkling of a bell. A memory of a boyish grin flickered in her head as her eyes fell on the velvet still lips of the patiently waiting man in front of her. It was all so horribly familiar the way they dipped in the corners. She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Please don't go."

Rose opened her eyes and turned towards the source of the break in the silence. In the few moments she had shut the world out, General Hux had stood and maneuvered himself in front of the door. She scowled at him.

He ran a nervous hand through his hair. "I know what you're thinking..." he started cautiously.

Rose spat, "you don't know anything about me."

He grinned ruefully, "I know you have a habit of scampering away when I make you uncomfortable." He took a step towards her. "I'm sorry." He let his head hang remorsefully before bringing his gaze up to meet her own. "I've been- unpleasant." His face softened as he looked down at her. The traces of authority melted into a look that was dangerously similar to affection.

Rose could feel the tips of her ears pinking under the gaze. Annoyed at their betrayal, she looked away. "I'm not uncomfortable. I'm just—tired. I didn't sleep well." Why she was admitting this she hardly knew, he didn't deserved an excuse, but the General only nodded in reply. He crossed back towards the table and shuffled down to kneel on his knees beside her. Rose pulled herself back into the chair in surprise, drawing her own knees up against her chest. Even in this position he was so tall that he was nearly eye level.

"Interrogation is an exhausting endeavor, even if you're good at it." He smiled sheepishly and reached for the pack of cards. He slipped them out of the deck and set them on the table. "I admire your effort but you're not trained in it."

He took two cards and balanced them together on top of the table. Satisfied he continued until he had a neat row.

"Why give me the information then?" Rose watched as he carefully balanced a card on top of each of the little peaks. His delicate hands were well suited for the task. It was oddly relaxing watching him work. She could feel the tension ease out of her shoulders.

"So you would keep coming. I needed to talk with you." One side of the little structure fell. He huffed and began again.

Rose shook her head absently. "That's what I don't understand." She let her head rest on top on her knees. "What is it that you want from me? I'm no one. I'm just a mechanic."

He flashed her an indescribable look and sighed. As he exhaled the other side of the structure fluttered over. He grimaced down at the structural failure and cleared it out of the way to begin again. "I wanted to confirm something. I thought if I showed you— you would remember. I was mistaken."

Rose reached up for her medallion. The cool touch of the metal usually calmed her but now all she could think of, as the cool smelt brushed under her fingers, was ice. "What am I supposed to remember?"

The little row of stacked cards was now a delicate partition between them, General Hux gave her a small smile over the thin structure. "That I can't tell you."

"You'll have to figure it out on your own."

—

"Dreams huh?" The slicer considered as he handed Rose a wrench.

Rose frowned from under an old speeder and set to work undoing a bolt she had misplaced. "Yes Dee, or memories, either way they're killing me."

"Is that why you haven't g-gone back? Before Rose could motion for it he was already handing her a rag. Rose slid out from under the speeder and wiped the grease off her hands.

It had been three days since Hux had shown her the scar and just as he had predicted she was running away again. Well...was refusing to go back really running? Poe certainly seemed to think so. The lecture she had gotten that morning still rung in her ears like an anthem.

She nodded. "I just don't want to go back until I have something. I'm so close, last night I almost saw him."

"The ghost boy?" He grinned and caught the used rag that Rose threw at him. He placed in one of the flame proof bins lining the wall. "Are you sure you're not m-making him up? Maybe t-that General of your's is getting in your head. Maybe he's trying to d-distract you."

Rose untangled herself from the roller and stood to brush herself off. She hadn't told DJ about the dreams at first but when she finally had, the day before, he had listened. She'd half expected the slicer to dig at her, poke fun like Finn sometimes did but instead he had stayed silent and almost thoughtful. It felt strangely nice to be taken seriously. Rose shook her head at the suggestion. "Maybe but I don't think so. He feels real. The boy I'm seeing. I know it. I feel it. I wouldn't feel anything if there wasn't something there. Besides if he wanted to distract me to hide information why would he just give it up like that?"

DJ shrugged and leaned against the stack of crates he'd been previously sitting on. "I dunno Rosie, I'm not exactly officer m-material." He waited until she had gathered herself together and fell into step as she made her way across the maintenance bay. He scratched the stubble collecting under his chin as they walked. "What m-makes you think they're connected, yer dreams I mean? They could just be a fluke."

Rose considered this. "There's something about him, Hux, it's like if I squint a little I can see something there." She held her hands up like goggles around her eyes fishing up a chuckle from the old slicer.

He wiped the corners of his eyes. "You see your ghostboy?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah, it's odd, I can't remember him but I know him. It's like I'm forgetting something important. I just want to remember...not because he wants me to but because it's like there's a missing part of me out there somewhere. I want it back."

DJ considered and nodded. "Makes sense."

They reached the end of the hangar and rounded the corner. Sprinting up the hallway was Finn. Rose quickly crossed the short hallway between them to meet him halfway. "Finn what's going on."

Finn huffed, letting his arms lean forward on his knees to catch his breath. "Poe wanted me to come get you. It's Hux. He's just collapsed. They're taking him to the med bay."

Rose gasped and glanced over at the slicer still standing behind her. He waved her off with an exaggerated scoff and a small smile. Rose nodded back and turned back to Finn who had now gathered his breath enough to stand.

"Take me to him please." Soon the pair were jogging down the hall.

—

At first glance he looked deceptively fragile. Feather soft eyelashes glowing green like the wings of a butterfly fluttered with sleep behind the pools of bacta. Hair splayed around his face to brush against his features rendering them softer than their usual harsh angles. His chest expanded, lacy ribs embellishing the thinness of his frame, as the respirator cycled air into him. Yet there was strength there too, if you took the time for a second look. The suspended arms tensed wiry muscles in response to some unconscious stimulation. Veins embroidered themselves here or there in a sinewy pattern of little blue rivers but more pressing in the mind of Rose as she gazed up at the man she had been interrogating was the huge bruise that weeped under his left ribcage.

"How did I miss that?" She asked incredulously to no one in particular. Finn shrugged, "Apparently he got injured worse than we thought during the first interrogation. Rib broke and scraped dangerously close to the lung. Med droid says he should patch up with two days in the tank."

Rose sucked in a breath. "He seemed fine though." Finn gave her a slap on the back and chuckled. "Of course he did. Hux is a bastard. He's tough. The poster child for the First Order's desensitization training. Called him a cur. The guys in my platoon would joke that he'd gnaw though his own leg someday."

His face turned serious and he frowned, "They wanted all of us to be like Hux. They wanted us to win at any cost. That's why they had to lose. That's too high a price."

Rose nodded in agreement and echoed the sentiment as she stared back up at the man in the tank. The man who's only talents seemed to be pain and keeping secrets. "Yes it's too high...for anyone to pay."


End file.
